Comments on "Portraits of African Leaders"

[<k>]

Thanks, Christian. Interesting to see it again. I'm not keen on the image quality, I must admit, so I'm holding out for a better image.

As the ad says, "the territory constituted a scattered patchwork of individual enclaves".  Strange times.

[<k>]

Schön has an [M] for the mint against this coin of Equatorial Guinea, but there are a few listed as M in his index - some of them unlikely, such as India. Does anyone know who minted this piece? The portrait is excellent, and naturally I'm wondering who designed it, though I think I'm unlikely ever to find out. Surprisingly, Schön lists the 1975 pieces as being by the Royal Mint, but an online search of their documents in the National Archives gives me no results for Equatorial Guinea.

[chrisild]

Does anyone know who minted this piece?

Gerhard Schön may know for sure what the "[M]" means in this context ... I would hazard a guess that it short for Madrid. The FNMT-RCM made and still makes various other products (stamps, ID documents, etc.) for Equatorial Guinea. Melbourne and Moscow, I don't think so.

Christian

[translateltd]

Are the six-pointed stars either side of the date a clue?  In fact, look closely at those stars and you'll see incuse date digits, just as on contemporary Spanish coins.  (Schön states as much in the introductory paragraphs to the E.G. listings, in the 2011 edition, at least.)

[<k>]

Aha, so it could be Madrid! Thanks, Martin and Christian.    The portrait is so good, I wondered if it was by a British artist - who knows, maybe one freelanced for Madrid - not impossible, but unlikely, I think!

[translateltd]

You can safely replace "could be" with "is", from the evidence on the coin and the catalogue reference.  I thought even the date digits looked similar to those on Spanish coins of 1980 but that could be wishful thinking.

[africancoins]

I covered this subject here...

http://www.wbcc.fsnet.co.uk/af-equ.htm

and that was likely about 10 years ago being as there is no date at the end of the page.

Thanks Mr Paul Baker

[<k>]

Thanks for that, Paul. The Schön catalogue doesn't give a mint for this portrait either, but we have a clue. Zaire/Congo/Belgian Congo: yes, we can see a link with Belgium, one of whose languages is Dutch. The other possibility is the Netherlands, which also has a mint, of course. It is interesting to ponder which language is used in the Belgian Mint - or are both French and Dutch used, but with strict demarcation lines?

[andyg]

Schön has an [M] for the mint against this coin of Equatorial Guinea, but there are a few listed as M in his index - some of them unlikely, such as India. Does anyone know who minted this piece? The portrait is excellent, and naturally I'm wondering who designed it, though I think I'm unlikely ever to find out. Surprisingly, Schön lists the 1975 pieces as being by the Royal Mint, but an online search of their documents in the National Archives gives me no results for Equatorial Guinea.

Elsewhere I read that Krause think this portrait is that of one T.E.Nkogo?

[<k>]

Elsewhere I read that Krause think this portrait is that of one T.E.Nkogo?

The Schön catalogue identifies him as Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. I find Schön is more often right, but, searching the web, I see there is doubt about the identity of the man portrayed, probably due to the obscurity of Equatorial Guinea and its politics.

[andyg]

The Schön catalogue identifies him as Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. I find Schön is more often right, but, searching the web, I see there is doubt about the identity of the man portrayed, probably due to the obscurity of Equatorial Guinea and its politics.

Yes I agree - I wonder if Gerhard will share his source with us.
It could well be that Krause is wrong - and have caused the confusion!

[Gerhard Schön]

Schön has an [M] for the mint against this coin of Equatorial Guinea, but there are a few listed as M in his index - some of them unlikely, such as India. Does anyone know who minted this piece?

The 1969 and 1980 dated circulation coins of Equatorial Guinea have been produced by the Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre in Madrid.

[Gerhard Schön]

The Schön catalogue identifies him as Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. I find Schön is more often right, but, searching the web, I see there is doubt about the identity of the man portrayed, probably due to the obscurity of Equatorial Guinea and its politics.

Why should it not be Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the current president of Equatorial Guinea who assumed power in 1979?

[<k>]

The 1969 and 1980 dated circulation coins of Equatorial Guinea have been produced by the Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre in Madrid.

Thank you, Gerhard. So they mint coins and print stamps at the same place, it seems.

[<k>]

Why should it not be Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the current president of Equatorial Guinea who assumed power in 1979?

That does seem logical.